The Girl Who Waited (TV story)
The Girl Who Waited 'is the tenth episode of the sixth series of ''Doctor Who. It was written by Tom MacRae, directed by Nick Hurran and featured Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. Overview To be added Synopsis The Doctor promises Amy and Rory a world of beauty on Apalapucia, when they arrive instead in the Two-Streams Facility, a healthcare facility on the planet built to treat the natives of Chen-7, an airborne condition fatal to two-hearted races, keeping the Doctor out. Problems arise further when Amy accidentally finds herself alone in a faster timeline to her husband and best friend, and in an attempt to rescue her, the TARDIS arrives 36 years late; in that time, Amy has grown bitter and angry and despises the Doctor. With robots harbouring medicines fatal to humans all around and a version of Amy refusing the save herself, Rory is left in the middle of a dilemma of selecting which version of his wife he will save... Plot While landing the Apalapucia for their latest trip, the Doctor, Amy and Rory step out of the TARDIS to the sight of a white door. While Amy collects her phone, the Doctor and Rory enter the room, pressing the Green Anchor button and find a large magnifying glass propped on the table. Amy emerges from the TARDIS and presses the Red Waterfall button entering the same room but the Doctor and Rory are missing. In the Green Anchor, the Doctor spots Amy through the magnifying glass when a white robot with artificial hands comes in and advances on Rory. The magnifying glass starts speeding up Amy and when the Doctor slows it again, she reveals to have been stuck there a week; the Doctor realises that she's caught in a faster timestream. Stablising the device, the Handbot explains that they are now occupants of the Two-Streams Facility, a medical centre for the natives of the planet infected with Chen-7, a plague capable of killing two-hearted races in 24 hours. Still in the sterile area, the Doctor tells Amy to go into the main section of the facility and they will follow her time trace in the TARDIS so Rory can rescue her; the Chen-7 would kill him and disable regeneration but warns her than while the plague can't harm her, any medication the Handbots wish to give her might. Returning to the TARDIS, the Doctor gives Rory a pair of camera-modified glasses and locks onto Amy's timestream, following her. Meanwhile, Amy checks herself into the facility and encounters a slew of Handbots while exploring, she tries to explain that the treatment will kill her but the Handbots ignore her and attempt to inject her anyway. Amy flees from them into a large mechanical chamber within the facility and is pinned into a mesh cage with smoke coming out of it. However, while she's inside, she proves undetectable to the Handbots. Elsewhere, the TARDIS lands in the facility's gallery and Rory takes off to look for Amy. Amy stumbles on the gate, the means of getting between entertainment zones in the facility. While visiting the garden, Amy is met by two Handbots that she manages to short by touching their hands together. The interface tells Amy that the smoke she'd hidden in before was exhaust fumes created by the temporal engines maintaining the multiple timestreams, providing an adequate hiding place. Hurrying to the temporal engines, Amy writes a message for the Doctor on the door and retreats inside to wait. Meanwhile, Rory looks for Amy using the time glass and the Doctor sets the sonic to detect the thousands of timestreams running parallel in Red Waterfall. A masked woman with a katana advances on Rory when she lifts her mask to reveal herself as Amy, a few decades older. Rory is too shocked to respond as she saves him from another Handbot and changes the cause of damage with her jury-rigged sonic probe. Amy explains that they never came to save her and has grown resentful of the Doctor in the decades she's been trapped, struggling to survive. Rory is horrified at how cold and retracted his wife has become in 36 years and she refuses to listen to the Doctor's explanations while they retreat to the temporal engines wherein Amy has created a makeshift sanctuary for herself. They make for the garden when the coast is clear so the Doctor can ask the interface how to help Amy. The Handbots knock out Rory but Amy destroys them before they can administer anything. Having figured out how to fix things, the Doctor asks Amy to help but she refuses to cooperate in helping him save her past self for fear of writing herself out of existence. Acknowledging Rory's claims that she'll die in Two-Streams if she doesn't act, she asks to be taken away now instead of saving her past self. Rory struggles to decide and Amy storms off; Rory is furious that the Doctor's cavalier and reckless approach to his lifestyle is responsible for what's happened to Amy and declares he doesn't want to travel with him anymore. The time glass detects past Amy and Rory uses it to look into the same room 36 years prior. Entering older Amy's camp, he shows her her younger self and sonics the time glass so they can talk. Older Amy still refuses to help her younger self or face being rewritten but her younger self dictates that if she won't act for her, then she will for Rory. Getting in touch with the Doctor again, old Amy agrees to help rescue her past self on the understanding that they take her with them as well, in spite of the paradox that having two Amys exist will cause. The Doctor is uncomfortable with the idea but assures them that it may be possible for the TARDIS to sustain the paradox. To this end, the Doctor has both old and young Amys hold a mental image in their mind to pull their ends of the timestream together and they envision their first kiss with Rory whilst doing the Macarena. Their efforts are successful and the two Amys are pulled together to the same point in time; however, the resulting paradox shatters the time glass and causes feedback to the TARDIS, giving them ten minutes to get there before they are left behind. The Handbots block their way to the gallery but older Amy leads them another way around them to the departure gate and unlocks the system for them to get inside. Whilst on their approach to the TARDIS, young Amy is knocked out by a Handbot, forcing Rory to carry her the rest of the way while old Amy covers them. Once inside the TARDIS, the Doctor assures young Amy's safety when he notices old Amy running towards him; however, mere inches from the door, the Doctor shuts her out and admits to lying about being able to maintain the paradox. Rory is horrified about the Doctor's apparent callousness and is disgusted when he leaves him with the decision on which Amy to leave behind, the one who lived a life or the one who nearly lost hers. Old Amy speaks to him through the door and insists that if he loves her not to let her in, give his Amy a chance at a life she never had and Rory tearfully locks her out. As the Handbots advance on and anaesthetise old Amy, ready to inject her, the TARDIS leaves and time is rewritten. In the TARDIS, Rory asks if he always knew that saving both Amys was impossible and he reminds him that he kept his promise to save her. He leaves the console room as Amy wakes up; she asks where her older self is and the Doctor, standing with a forlorn look on his face, leaves Rory to belay the news to her... Cast * The Doctor - Matt Smith * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan * Rory - Arthur Darvill * Check-in girl - Josie Taylor * Voice of Interface - Imelda Staunton Crew To be added References To be added Story Notes To be added Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''The Girl Who Waited'' page on '''Doctor Who Website